It was time to go. Just like the nightmare that had haunted me, I was leaving, but it felt as if I shoved the blade into my own heart when we drove away.
Chapter Eight
Micah watched her go out the door and sighed to himself as he returned to the bed. The place where she had been was still warm. He smiled as he buried his face into her pillow, inhaling her lingering scent. He wasn’t exactly sleepy, but he was very, very comfortable as he drifted toward unconsciousness.
An hour later he rolled over and glanced at the clock. Surely she would be back soon and when she came through the door, she wouldn’t get far. He’d never in his existence believed he could feel all the emotions she brought to life inside him. She was the most incredible creature he’d ever found and he simply couldn’t believe she was his wife. He changed everything to be with her and he knew, without doubt, it was all worth it. She opened him up to the possibilities that God truly cared about redeeming his once worthless, hell-bound soul and put him on the path he felt he never deserved to be treading.
Another hour passed and, as reluctant as he was, he dressed and decided to go down to the restaurant and grab a bite to eat. With any luck, he’d catch her down there still talking with her family. He had developed a regular need to see her face, to touch her skin, and to hear her laughter, and he had gone too long this morning without it.
The elevator opened in the restaurant, and he was making his way to the hostess, when he saw Nadia and Kimmy heading toward the exit on the other side.
“Table for one?” the hostess asked.
“Hold on a second, I’ll be right back I’ve got to catch someone.” He sprinted across the room. “Nadia!”
She paused and turned, both of them smiling, “Hey, I was wondering if I was going to see you before we left. We thought about coming up to your room, but didn’t want to disturb anything.” She blushed.
He looked confused. If Leese was with Nadia, how would they interrupt anything? “Where’s Leese?” he asked.
“She’s not with me. I thought she was upstairs with you.”
His face went pale, “You did see her this morning, right?”
“No, I haven’t seen her since we saw you two last night.”
His hand went immediately to his cell phone and he began dialing.
“Why?”
He listened as the recording came on immediately saying she wasn’t available and went to voicemail. This could only mean she was either on the phone or her phone was turned off. Leese never turned off her phone.
“Hey, baby,” he said, trying to stay calm, “call me as soon as you get this message-I just need to know where you are right now. Call me back.” He looked into Nadia’s distressed gaze, “She left me about two hours ago and said she wanted to see you and Kimmy before you left for home. She forgot to get the keys to the house in Maui.”
Now it was Nadia’s turn to look upset, “Does she have the car keys? Could she have changed her mind and driven somewhere?”
He patted his pocket; the keys to the Corvette were there.
“She’s got to be here somewhere. Ask the hotel if they can page her and tell her to call the front desk.”
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Kimmy asked. The worried expression from the adults was causing her to tear up.
“It’s okay, Kimmy.” Micah reached out and pulled her to his side. “We just have to find your sister.”
“Check the pool,” Kimmy said confidently. “That’s where I’d be.”
Micah smiled outwardly, but inside he was in a state of panic like he’d never known; his wife was missing.
“Excuse me,” he approached an older man at the front desk, “I need to page my wife, Annalisa Gavarreen. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes, sir, if you’ll give me a moment.”
“She left you a message,” a young woman behind the counter interrupted, “ about 15 or 20 minutes ago.”
“Thank God,” Micah relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief as he watched the woman retrieve it.
“She left two actually. Are you Nadia Winslett?” she asked with an extra piece of paper in hand.
“Yes, thank you,” Nadia said taking the other paper.
Micah opened the message at the same moment as Nadia, and both of them immediately caught their breath. It was Leese’s handwriting, but the notes were scrawled as if she had been in a hurry. Tears stained the paper and the first words on both notes were, “I know you’ll never understand, but…”
Micah nearly collapsed as Nadia gripped his arm.
“Sit down, Micah.” She led him to a nearby chair. “This is wrong-something is really wrong. She wouldn’t do this to you-she loves you too much, I know she does.
He broke down in tears and covered his face. Her words that God has a purpose for everything came back hauntingly clear-he made her keep her date with Ryan, he purposely left her alone with him more than once and now it seemed the whole reason was to open her eyes. But she couldn’t love Ryan more than she loved him, it just wasn’t possible. Nadia was right. She wouldn’t do this to him, not after everything, this just wasn’t her. He dried his tears and the old Micah came back with a rush of commanding authority as his emotions dried up and withered away.
He walked back to the desk, “I need to see your head of security, now.”
He didn’t want Nadia to view the tapes so he asked if she and Kimmy would consider heading home, just in case Leese should go there. Nadia wanted to call the police right away, but Micah assured her he was more capable than even the police in finding her. He promised he would call her as soon as he figured out what was really going on.
He sat in the dim control room watching the tapes from the time she left him. There was footage of her in the hallway getting on the elevator, but the camera in the elevator wasn’t working. He watched the lobby camera but the next time anyone stepped off, it wasn’t Leese. He was getting that gut feeling that something was very wrong.
He continued to watch tapes and finally saw a glimpse of her heading down the hallway on the second floor to the stairwell. It had been a forty-five minute lapse since the first shot of her on the elevator. The stairwell tapes showed her going out the back of the hotel and waiting in the alley, but then a man entered the picture and grabbed her arm. He knew who it was immediately, and his blood boiled.
A cabbie pulled up, there seemed to be an argument, and then he watched Ryan pay off the cabbie who left without her. They went out of camera range for a moment and then they appeared again as a black Trans Am backed into the alley and sped away.
But she had returned to the hotel. The young woman said the notes had only been left 15-20 minutes earlier. He continued to watch.
“There she is,” the hotel security officer said, pointing to the screen for the hotel’s entrance camera. He watched Ryan seat himself on the fender as she ran for the lobby clutching paper in her hands. Then she returned and he opened his arms. Micah unconsciously braced his hand against the desk as he watched.
“No, Leese, no,” he whispered as he witnessed the long kiss. The way Ryan’s hands moved through her hair and down her back made him want to knock the monitor completely off the desk. Again, they were kissing. The third time he was ready to snap in two. He noticed something and used the video controls to zoom in on her as she upturned her face to his for the last kiss. He could see the glistening tears on her cheeks and he felt in his heart she didn’t want to do what she was doing. But then all doubts seemed to erase as the final thing he saw was her lips moving with the words, “I love you, Ryan.”
There was more to this story. She couldn’t have simply changed her mind and her heart. She wanted them to have a commitment in front of God. That was why they waited for marriage before taking the next step. And, he knew he was the first person to experience that with her.
He called the cab company. His photographic memory was very clearly recalling the number on the cab from the video. He had to meet the driver to see if he remembered anything
that might undo this knife in his heart. He thought about her nightmare and how afraid she was, saying nothing could drive her away from him, nothing could make her destroy her relationship with him, but now something had and he had to know if it was love for another man.
The cabbie didn’t seem interested in cooperating as Micah stood outside the hotel and questioned him about the fare he didn’t have to earn. He was wishing he had his pistols because one would be pressed to this little maggot’s head right now and he would gladly tell Micah what he needed so desperately. He’d had enough. There was another way to get what he wanted as he jerked the cabbie halfway out the window to face him.
“Listen to me you insignificant piece of dirt; that was my wife that you left in the alley! She’s missing and if you don’t tell me everything you remember I’ll kill you even if I have to snap your neck with my bare hands!”
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Buddy, I’m sorry-I didn’t know. Yeah, I do remember-she wanted to go to the First National Bank, but the guy said he’d take her. She acted like she knew him. I’d didn’t think she was in no danger.”
He let go, almost causing the man to fall out the cab window. He had another lead and he was on his way to the bank.
The bank president was about as helpful as the cabbie although he openly said he knew why she’d come in, but he wasn’t privileged to disclose it. Micah had a way of convincing people to change their minds.
As he let the banker’s feet touch the ground, still gripping the man’s lapel, his final words were very clear, “You better hope to God you have all those serial numbers!”
“Ye-yes, Mr. Gavarreen. They were new bills, all consecutive. I’ll get you the list.”
Whatever she was doing, there would be a trail and the trail would lead him right to her door. He needed the best person in the world at chasing a paper trail; he just didn’t want to call home and tell his mother what had happened.
He would be on a plane tonight for Louisiana. He was going home and stepping back into the world he shunned for her, but now it was the only world he could turn to. He called Nadia and told her that evidently it was true. He told her about watching the tape, about the kiss, but he was going to track her down and as soon as he found her he would have her call home.
“Micah,” Nadia said before hanging up, “I don’t think we have all the pieces and I know how much this is hurting you, but…”
He took in a calm breath. He had put his emotions away and felt nothing now-at least not love, and certainly not pain; anger was still there and growing stronger, but everything else had faded.
“Don’t hurt her, Micah,” Nadia finished, evidently realizing by his unemotional voice that he was changing.
“I could never hurt her,” he said evenly, but deep down he was starting to wonder how much longer he could believe that lie.
Chapter Nine
“Do you have an idea where you want to go?” Ryan asked as we pulled out of the hotel parking lot.
I wasn’t in any condition to talk, but I knew I had to come to my senses and start planning or this could go horribly wrong. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and took a ragged breath. “I haven’t thought that out yet; I just planned to grab a car and head out of state. I got the cash because I know Micah will find me if I use a credit card. He’s-he’s got plenty of ties to people who know how to track someone down, and I can’t leave a trail.”
“Were going to my house.”
“No, Ryan, that’s the first place he’ll look!”
“Calm down, Leese, I’m just going to pick up a few things and then head for the airstrip.” He could tell I still looked worried as he pushed down the accelerator. “Don’t worry, we’ll be there and gone before he gets there. I-I’ve got to say goodbye to my mom and then I’m flying you out of here.”
I remembered the pain of not being able to say goodbye to Kimmy when Micah had taken me to Louisiana. I wouldn’t argue the goodbye he wanted. “You mean hire a private plane?”
“No, I mean I’m flying you out of here. I fly all the time. I told you I’ve got my pilot’s license and I own my own Cessna, but I don’t think it’s smart to take my plane. I’ve got a good friend who won’t have a problem letting me use his.”
“I just never thought about you actually flying.”
“You knew I was planning on joining the Air Force.” He stole a glance at me as he dodged traffic. “My dad was a colonel and took me flying all the time when I was little. I could pilot a plane by the time I was ten, but I couldn’t get a student license until I turned 16 and then I started flying solo. I got my regular pilot’s license when I turned 17.”
I was glad for the conversation, anything to take my mind off the crushing pain working its way through my heart. Just as I dreamed, I was taking off, not knowing where I was going, but simply that I had to get away. I could only hope the rest of the dream had been a metaphor, because I already felt the knife in my heart and with every mental image of Micah’s face, it shoved deeper.
“You never mentioned your dad,” I said, trying to keep talking so my mind wouldn’t wander back into the painful thoughts, “he’s in the Air force?”
“Was,” Ryan said quietly.
He stopped talking for a moment and I wondered if I should press him for anything more.
“He was killed in Iraq when I was 15.”
I could tell he struggled to get those words out. It was obviously still very painful for him. I reached over and put my hand on the back of his as it rested on the shifter, “It sounds like you two were close.”
“Yeah, we were-he was a great dad,” his voice starting to crack. “He had so many people that really respected him, his career and everything he stood for. They told me I have an opening in the Air Force Academy whenever I’m ready, full military scholarship. Mom is against the whole idea, but that’s because she knows why I want to join.”
I remembered his words when we were at Pensacola High School about the Air Force being the only legal way to kill someone. Now I understood. Without thinking my hand trailed softly up the intricate colored tattoo covering his right forearm.
“Yeah, I got it after dad died. Mom still hates it and I really can’t say I blame her. I-I wish I hadn’t done it, but it’s too late to change it now.”
I thought about Micah’s tattoo. I broke down sobbing so hard, I couldn’t get a breath. I kept hearing Ryan saying it was going to be okay as his hand warmly rubbed my back.
“You didn’t have a choice, Leese. You made the right decision, hard as it was, it’s the only way.”
“But why?” I sobbed into my palms. “All we wanted was to be together. Why did it have to end this way?” I pulled away from my hands and stared at the beautiful diamond wedding set on my finger. I had pledged my life to Micah Gavarreen for better or worse; I just had no concept at the time how bad the worst could become.
We hit I-95 and he kept our speed around ninety miles an hour until we pulled off into West Palm and made it to his house. I hadn’t met Ryan’s mother, and I certainly wasn’t in any condition to see her at the moment, but I could tell he didn’t expect me to come inside.
He was gone about ten minutes when he emerged carrying another duffle, with his mother following close behind. She was a petite blonde with eyes the same shocking shade of blue as her son’s. She looked toward me and I could see the worry hit her. She knew who I was. Actually, there weren’t many people who didn’t look at me and remember my face from the news, but this was a different kind of look. She knew I married a few days ago and now her son was getting ready to fly away with the bride. He paused to embrace her, as she looked at me once again and nodded. It was as if she was letting me know, for whatever the reason, she was okay with him leaving with me.
We pulled into the Palm Beach International Airport, through the guarded areas as Ryan displayed his identification, and up to an area where numerous small aircraft waited.
“Which one is yours?” I asked, glad to finally have something to say
since we had been silent from his house to here.
He pointed toward a sleek looking small plane with a silver bottom and a black stripe. “That’s mine. It’s a Cessna Corvalis 400, but what we’re flying out in is that one.” He pulled near a small jet that appear to be big enough for at least six. “It’s a Cessna Citation Mustang and belongs to a good friend of my family. That’s him there,” he said, as an older gentleman with a military crew-cut came around the plane. He was smiling as we approached.
“Does he know you want to use his plane?”
“Yeah, I called him when I was at the house. He’s a great guy and he flew with my dad back when my dad was learning how to be a pilot.”
Ryan grabbed both of his duffle bags from the trunk as he waved to the man. “Harvey, I really appreciate the loaner,” he shouted over the drone of a small plane taxiing away from the hanger.
“No problem, Ryan. I’ve told you before all you have to do is ask. I know I can trust you to take care of her.”
The man winked at me and I was wondering if he was discussing the airplane or me.
“Harvey Pinchon, this is Annalisa…” He evidently didn’t know what last name he should give me, but Harvey didn’t appear fazed that I had no last name at the moment.
“Annalisa, nice to meet you.”
I reached out to shake his hand and watched his eyes snap immediately to the wedding ring on my finger.
“So,” he said, quickly looking away from my hand, “I need a flight plan for you, Ryan. The FAA frowns on people without them. Where were you planning on stopping?”
“Well, I was kind of hoping you might let me take her to Heaven’s Landing. I can leave her there in your hanger and then we’ll just get a taxi over to Greenville and rent something else from there.”
“Bullshit!” Harvey snapped.
That shook me from the comatose feeling that had been creeping into my system.
Ryan’s eyebrows rose, but he apparently couldn’t come up with a response.
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